Last week, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Houston was looking to move guard Ty Lawson, “cooperating with Lawson’s representatives in exploring possible deals to bring back some measure of return on the organization’s original investment in Lawson[.]” To date, Lawson has possibly been the most disappointing high-profile acquisition the franchise has made since the title years. Thinking back, chronologically, Charles Barkley was a success (though controversially in the minds of some purists who maintain the Cassell-Horry rendition of the team had one run still in it); Steve Francis was the face of the team, as was Tracy McGrady during his tenure; Ron Artest was a huge hit, and James Harden and Dwight Howard have lifted the franchise into respectability. The major flops that come to mind, before Lawson, were Scottie Pippen, Shandon Anderson, Stromile Swift, and Bonzi Wells. Lawson, before this season, looked like a bonafide top-10 point guard, having quarterbacked some dangerous Denver Nuggets teams as its best player. Right now, he doesn’t even look like an NBA player. It looked like Lawson–and the team, collectively–had turned the corner after the win over Oklahoma City. Now, it appears the team is looking to cut bait. How the hell did we reach this point and who’s to blame?
First, it’s very well possible that Lawson just is not functioning properly in effect of the alcoholism from which he suffers. I can’t speak to that premise either medically, personally, or anecdotally. But if that’s the case, the results on the basketball court this season speak for themselves, and I hope going forward, Lawson is able to get his life in order, wherever he lands.
For the Rockets’ part, I don’t think I can recall a similarly analogous instance of a team so grossly neglecting to institute a plan for incorporation of a star acquisition. I guess Kevin Love last year in Cleveland comes to mind, but that team was trying to integrate everyone all at once. As I’ve said many times, watching this team from Day 1, and watching Lawson stand in the corner, it almost felt as if the staff this summer thought, “oh, we got a second play-maker! Great! Throw him out there and let him play make!” The defensive struggles of the Harden-Lawson pairing were foreseeable, but there’s absolutely no reason two players with that kind of ability should not have wrecked shop on the league at the other end, especially with the kinds of finishers this team has in its frontcourt.
Lawson had zero value at the end of last summer, when he still looked like a functioning NBA player. I can’t imagine the Rockets getting back anything with even a modicum of value, though I suppose having had the last year on his contract nulled might make him a more attractive wildcard flier for some team banking on risk. I personally just don’t see the point. I’d rather hold on–risk free–to the hope of Lawson somehow figuring it out than take back someone else’s trash just to say we did something.
What does all of this mean going forward in terms of ‘fit’? A big part of the blame here should be directed squarely towards James Harden. If he isn’t capable of co-existing with another dominant ball-handler, this team can’t reach it’s theoretical ceiling. In fact, the Jeremy Lin days were instructive, in retrospect, in proving that Harden probably can’t even co-exist with a secondary ball-handler. If Harden is on the court, he just simply cannot allow himself to relinquish control, unless loafing around at the arc and not trying to get himself open off the ball. The whole point of getting Lawson was to make Harden more efficient by allowing him to play off the ball. In making the assumption this could work, we all misunderstood James Harden.
Thus, the ideal fit next to Harden would be a point guard who can hit open three-pointers at a 40% clip, defend at an elite level, and kind of attack off the dribble for the rare instances he is allowed to, or off kick-outs. I’m not sure such a player exists, or at least is obtainable. But if so, the depressing reality becomes that you’re resigning this team’s fate to outright complete and total dependence upon James Harden. Such a course took Houston all the way to the West Finals last year, but we saw how wide the gap is with Golden State.
This, and Houston’s dreadful start, lead to the questions being asked now regarding Harden, in recent weeks, most notably on the Bill Simmons podcast. Is he fatally flawed? Can you win with him as your best player? Do you seek to trade him? What does it say about Harden’s leadership abilities in allowing his team to sink to such depths this season?
I’d remind people, however, that Kobe Bryant, through his ego, spearheaded the deconstruction of an NBA dynasty. He was the best player on dreadful Lakers teams and pulled childish stunts such as the one against Phoenix where he refused to attempt a field goal to get across a message. And when the team got Pau Gasol, Bryant went right back to leading the Lakers to NBA championships. I’d submit that Harden is arguably as brilliant, offensively, as Bryant ever was.
On the flip side, what worries me is that I can’t think of an example of a star outgrowing apathy. Bryant, like Jordan before Phil, and Hakeem before religion, was selfish. We’ve seen examples of guys outgrowing selfishness for the good of the team. But can you think of a superstar who just outright lacked fire who suddenly turned it on? Some of these clips of Harden loafing on the court are downright cartoonish. Bryant was the most overrated defensive player of his generation, but for all of the selfish contested turnarounds he chucked up, you never found him sleepwalking around the court.
It worries me, admittedly, but what the hell can you do? I don’t think trading Harden is the answer. It’s so unlikely that you’ll ever recover, in the immediate future, with a player of similar caliber. As I said some weeks ago, you just have to hope that he somehow gets it, before its too late. He came in focused last season, so its not unlikely that it could happen again. But you have to hire someone this offseason that can get through to him and command his respect, and challenge him. And in the meantime, you have to surround him on this roster with nothing but pitbulls that can hide his flaws. Jason Terry has been instrumental to this team’s success, but a stronger veteran voice would be a player who can actually still play.
If playing the odds, I think it’s smarter to bet on Harden maturing than to bet on finding a similar talent.
